Get On Up does two things magnificently well, and they’re related: It conveys the batshit craziness of both James Brown and Little Richard, which is quite a feat and aided in no small part from Chadwick Boseman as Brown and Brandon Mychal Smith as Richard. The two give performances so captivating that it’s worth seeing the film simply to indulge in their fascinating performances.

That Get On Up would be well acted is probably no surprise, but it is a surprise that they can almost carry the entire 138-minute film. Almost. And that the music is phenomenal shouldn’t be a surprise either. I’m not sure if Boseman performed all the songs, but I’m fairly certain he did his own dancing, and both are wisely indulgent, wisely for this film, which at least does know how to put on a show.

Director Tate Taylor (The Help) and writers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth nail many of the character moments, but never quite get around to understanding their subject. The first thirty minutes or so jumps back and forth through so many different periods that if there’s a linear story buried in there, I missed it. Even more, if there’s something that “made” Brown the man he became, the film doesn’t seem very interested in it, which would be fine, but it does need some kind of connecting thread to tie the movie together.

I’ve had, for some time, the suspicion that the current comedy troop of Rogen, Hill, Cera, and Franco would eventually get to the point where, instead of a script, they would just sit around and talk. Now we have This Is the End, and if this isn’t the logical conclusion of the gang’s comedy, it’s damn close.

The premise is that Jay Baruchel is in LA to visit his friend Seth Rogen. Their friendship has been on the skids, and Rogen’s insistence that they attend a party at James Franco’s house instead of, I don’t know, hang out and smoke weed. doesn’t help. At Franco’s they meet up with Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill, and several others within or slightly out of their group’s ever-expanding radius, such as Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, Martin Starr, Chritopher Mintz-Plasse, and now, I guess, Emma Watson.

Freak disruptions start to occur all over the place — sinkholes swallow up many of the party-goers, others are lifted to heaven in columns of blue light, fires explode across Hollywood, and the five find themselves barricaded in Franco’s house — until Danny McBride shows up and makes their sixth.

Diane here and fresh off  the red carpet premiere of Universal Studios’ Hollywood latest attraction, King Kong 360 3D.  If you have a chance to swing on by this summer, it is worth the wait.

Yesterday while walking among a 360lb Bengal Tiger, a 13 foot Python, a feisty monkey, and tribal dancers who kept on telling me to touch their dinosaur bones I became entranced with the world of Skull Island and a gorilla who’s eaten one too many Big Macs.

I was not alone, The Office’s Craig Robinson, Oscar Nunez, and Kate Flannery, along with Kevin Smith, Yvette Nicole Brown of Community, Wayne Brady,Wanted and King Kong’s Thomas Kretschmann, and a very shy Christopher Lloyd were all there sampling the gourmet apps and reveling in a filmed introduction to the experience by none other than a slimmed down Peter Jackson in 3D.

Fortunately, each week brings a new chance to see a great movie or TV show that you’ve never seen before. Or, you can go back and watch something you’ve seen a hundred times and still enjoy it. Both of these things are possible because new moves and TV programs come out on Blu-ray and DVD each and every week.

This week brings some titles, new and old, that we’re excited about including The Warlords, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, season one of Warehouse 13 and the Blu-ray releases of The Crazies remake and Hot Tub Time Machine (pictured above with Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Rob Corddry and John Cusack).

Movies

Brotherhood VI: Initiation (2009) ~ Tyson Breech, Burke Carter (Blu-ray and DVD)

Creation ~ Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly (Blu-ray and DVD)

Don McKay ~ Thomas Haden Church, Elisabeth Shue (Blu-ray and DVD)

Hot Tub Time Machine ~ John Cusack, Clark Duke (Blu-ray and DVD)

New York Confidential ~ Broderick Crawford, Anne Bancroft (DVD)

Night Train to Munich (Criterion Collection) ~ Margaret Lockwood, Rex Harrison (DVD)

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief ~ Logan Lerman (Blu-ray and DVD)

At this point, what can I really tell you that you don’t know about Shrek? Unless you have been living under a tree stump in a swamp, chances are you are very familiar with the franchise about a lovable green ogre and a colorful cast of characters pulled from popular children’s fairy tales.

In this probable last movie of the franchise, Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) is knee-deep in diapers and devilish toddler antics, and he’s not exactly digging the whole domestic thing. The realities of family life are weighing him down, and a disastrous birthday party is the last straw.

As is typical of most parents, he fondly recalls the pre-marriage and pre-kids days as being much better than they actually were. You know, that whole “the grass is always greener” mentality everyone falls victim to from time to time. In his delicate emotional state he becomes easy pickings for the shady Rumpelstiltskin, who offers Shrek one day as his former playboy self.